Kiss and Don't Tell
by Ian Reid
Summary: Jonesey and Jen, alone in the house one night, get a little more romantic than the other is comfortable with. Meanwhile, Caitlin and Jude comfort one another after a botched double-date.


Kiss and Don't Tell  
By  
Ian Reid

Chapter 1

"Well, that job sucked," Jonesey Garcia grumbled as he took a seat.  
"Fired again I see," Wyatt Williams observed, his eyes not even so much as leaving his notebook page.  
"More like completely banned from that store until the end of days," said Jonesey. "I mean, vinegar and baking soda shouldn't even be that volatile together!"  
"Complained the guy who somehow managed to fail Grade Four science," Wyatt added. He kept a hand on his guitar neck while his other kept writing in the open notebook.

The blonde girl in the lemon hat and apron working the lemon stand leaned on the counter, having no customers to serve.  
"Where were you fired from this time?" she asked.  
"Science! The Store," Jonesey answered.  
"That educational store on the fourth level?" Wyatt asked, finally looking up.  
"The same," Jonesey nodded, partly out of shame. There was a tense silence over the table. "If Nikki were here, she'd have something snarky to say about it," Jonesey sighed dejectedly after a full minute. "Probably like 'Nice going, Science Guy.'"  
Jonesey reflected on his girlfriend up north. In the past five months since she moved, she only visited twice. None of it was a waste, mind, though the first time was a fiasco; Jude switched the arrival flight and date by mistake and everyone was a little miserable about it for the week. The second time wasn't as bad but not by much, even though Jonesey's charm almost broke the two up at the airport when he went to pick her up. They made up, fortunately, and the rest of the week they had forgiven one another. Jonesey made sure her last night was one she'd remember.

Caitlin's cell phone rang, which she answered, "Hello? Lex! Hey! What? No way! Really? OK. Uh, no, I'm free then. Alright. Talk to you later. Bye." She let out a delighted squeal after hanging up.  
"Another date with Lex?" Wyatt asked, his eyes fixed once more to his notebook.  
Caitlin sighed dreamily. "He is just the cutest guy ever," she said. "He's so thoughtful and smart, and handsome, and nice, and rugged, and chivalrous and…and cute!" A customer approached, ordering a lemon smoothie. Caitlin whipped one up hardly paying attention to them, then went back to day-dreaming about Lex. The customer paid and went on their merry way. A familiar sound of rolling skateboard wheels approached the Big Squeeze, its pilot hopped off his deck, caught it, and tucked under his arm as he took his seat at the table.

"Duude!" Jude Lizowski exclaimed with exuberance, "I just landed the most awesome date this Friday!" Jude's presence lifted Jonesey's morale by a great amount.  
"Give us the details, man," Jonesey said. "Is she a hottie?"  
Jude looked at him like he caught fire all of a sudden. "You have to ask if Sierra Obonsawin is hot?" he replied.  
"No way!" Jonesey said. "Sierra Obonsawin the Junior? Jude."  
"Dude," Jude and Jonesey fist-bumped.  
"How'd you manage to ask her out?" Wyatt asked.  
"Got two tickets to see The Rose of May," Jude explained. "Overheard her at school she wanted to go see it, so I asked her out."  
"No way!" Caitlin said. "Lex just called and said he was going to take me to see The Rose of May on Friday too!"  
"Cool, brah," said Jude. "How about we make it a double date?" Caitlin squealed delightedly again.

At this point, an exhausted and very ragged-looking brunette in a disheveled referee shirt skulked her way to the group, sitting down and slammed her forehead against the table tiredly.  
"Whoa, Jen, you look like crap," Jude was the first to acknowledge her presence.  
"The longer this day goes on, the faster I just want to _die_," Jen Masterson groaned.  
"Rough day?" Wyatt asked. Jen parted her hair from her face, revealing a swollen and bruised right eye. The others recoiled or cringed in horror and disgust at the ungodly sight.  
"Stupid Coach Halder and his attempt to sell dodge balls. Dodge balls!" she grumbled. "He got the idea from that Total Drama show."  
"At least he has good taste," Wyatt said. The others present looked at him incredulously, like he blew his nose with the Declaration of Independence of Lower Canada.  
Wyatt sipped his coffee casually before flinching at all the glaring from the others. "What?" he said defensively. "It's a good show."  
"That Geoff guy is kind of cute," Caitlin agreed absent-mindedly.  
"I do kinda dig the surfer chick," Jude added. Jen slammed her forehead into the table once more with an exasperated groan.  
"Hey, Jen, not to force any more pressure on you," Jonesey began, "but mom and dad called, and said they were taking the siblings out Friday night. We'll have the whole house to ourselves for five hours." Jen looked up and across the table to her step-brother, a light of hope shining behind her one functioning eye.  
"Really?" she asked, filling with renewed vigor.  
"Robby's school play is Friday night, and they decided to go out afterward," Jonesey explained.  
Jen sat a little straighter and looked at Jonesey unsure. "Don't you want to go?"  
Her step-brother scoffed. "Please, I swore them off after going to Diego's," he said. "Those plays are awful!"  
"Someone's still sore about being a tree in the Grade four play," Wyatt observed while strumming a chord on his guitar, then revising something on his notebook page.  
"My talents were wasted in that part!" Jonesey defended indignantly.  
"Oh my god, a full five hours of alone time!" Jen let out a delighted squeal. "Caitlin, wanna come over?"  
"Sorry, Jen, I have a date with…Lex," she sighed on Lex's name dreamily.  
"Joining Caitlin for a double-date, sorry, brah," Jude added when Jen looked to him.  
Jen's gaze fell upon Wyatt hopefully. "Wyatt?"  
"Love to, but I've had some inspiration for songwriting," Wyatt said, pointing to his notebook and guitar.  
"Step-siblings night in," said Jonesey rather upbeat. "What could go wrong?" Jen crossed her arms doubtfully.  
"Nothing good ever comes from you saying that, Jonesey," she warned.  
"Relax, we both know you're totally over me."  
Jen blushed momentarily.

Author's Commentary: Considering this is my first 6Teen story uploaded, I'm not fully certain how this will turn out. I know the basis of what's going to happen, but that's the extent I'm capable of working out. The farthest ahead I've planned is how a plot point will work, and let the plot point write itself, in a way. I like to remain flexible and capable of adding elements to the story to make it seem vibrant and lively and an actual story other than, "These characters are here, and doing this, and stuff happens and a thing comes up, and the characters solve their problems, the end." I really try not to be so bland with my writing, so I leave myself room to think and be creative about how to approach a situation and write it so it feels right to me.


End file.
